Elder Seth Barrus

Elder Seth Barrus
Jakarta Indonesia Mission May2013-2015

Monday, October 6, 2014

The Boar's head in hand I raise, Bedecked with Baize!

I shall give 100 points to whomever catches that reference. If you paid any attention to our Madrigal songs my senior year, you would know. 

Living goats. Obviously not sacrificed yet.
The area close by our house has started smelling like an animal farm the last couple days which means it's time for sacrifice day! The only problem is that Hari Raya Idul Fitri happens to fall on a Sunday this year, so while walking to church yesterday, the cows and goats were still living and walking around the masjid by our house, but by the time we were heading home, the deed had been done. Nothing remained but a few carcasses and lots of blood.

We keep meeting new investigators, but for some reason, are having a tough time helping them stick around to keep meeting with us more than once. One of the fun experiences we had this past week was meeting Pak P. (Although probably distantly related to Elder P, there is no evidence of close family). We decided to start proselyting around members' homes because it will be easier to bring fellowshippers to future lessons, and after 2 solid hours of talking to people on the streets, asking anybody where someone might be interested in hearing a message about Jesus Christ or the Kitab Mormon, we had pretty much nothing to show for it except for a few irritated folks who told us to bug off. We finally tracted into a Batak kampung and it so turned out that they all were Batak Tapanuli, which meant they weren't Christian. But they said one of their neighbors happened to be Christian, so we gave it a try. As soon as Pak P saw "Yesus Kristus" on our name badges, he let us in. After sharing a quick message about the Kitab Mormon, he said "I like you guys. Come back next week and teach me more about this. But come when my family is here too." So we set an appointment for this Tuesday. Yay! 

As for other investigators, we met with a guy named Mas O. I've taken for granted the overall ability of Indonesians to read and be literate. It was kind of like talking to a rock while teaching Mas O. He kind of just nodded his head with everything we said and when we asked him to repeat what we said using his own words, he couldn't do it. Turns out, he can't really read either. Hmm. So we toned our Bahasa Indonesian down and taught according to what he could understand. After the lesson, we asked how he felt and he said "I didn't understand most of what you said, but all the bad feelings I had before I met you went away." The Gospel has to be taught to everybody right? In their own language and all, even if that language is really informal Indonesian.

Whiteboard after Zone Training Meeting, along with my cousin, Sister Sheffield
Zone Training Meeting! Elder Sutarno and I taught about how to become "Full Purpose Missionaries" in not only finding, teaching, and baptizing, but in retaining and reactivating, too. Hopefully it went well. We're well on target to reach our goals by December 31st so here's me getting excited!

After much prodding and poking, we got Ivan to bear his testimony in Sacrament meeting yesterday! And it was aaaaawesome! He said the things that every missionary wants to hear. He said something along the lines of "I commit to enduring in this Church and keeping my covenant I made at baptism."

I've been thinking a lot about sacrifice (in honor of Hari Raya Idul Fitri) and how others around me have sacrificed in one way or another for the benefit of others. But ultimately, it made me think about the Savior's atoning sacrifice for all of us as children of God. We don't need to cut up cows or burn goats anymore to show our willingness to God. But rather, we need to come unto Him with a broken heart and contrite spirit, and offer our whole souls as a sacrifice to Him. 

We get to listen to Conference this Saturday and Sunday and because there's an English ward that meets in the Jakarta Selatan building, it means I get to watch the proceedings in English!!! Needless to say, I'm pumped. :) 

Elder Seth Barrus

The only thing I could think of when I saw this was "Meow..."
It means "want" in Indonesian.  But sounds too much like a cat. 


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